The Nose Knows: Pirate Princess by Sudipta Bardham

PRINCESS BEA WAS NOT THE KIND
OF PRINCESS YOU'D EXPECT.
SHE DIDN'T LIKE TO DRESS IN LACE
OR SILK, BROCADE, OR CHINTZ.

AND ESPECIALLY SHE COULDN'T FACE
A LIFE WED TO A PRINCE.

Nope, Princess Bea has a yen to sail the sea. So when she spots a buccaneer's barque tied up at the dock, she resolves to be a stowaway. Cap'n Jack, shanghais Bea for his crew, and sets her to work swabbing the deck. Alas, Bea's resume' doesn't seem to cover scrubbing skills, and when Jack gets his foot stuck in her mop bucket while the Princess is taking a breather, he's really mad. Threatening to throw her overboard if she doesn't get shipshape fast, he sends her below to be a galley slave. But cooking isn't in her job description either, and her sorry stew sends the crew back to hardtack. Finally Cap'n Jack sends her up the rigging to be a lookout in the crow's nest.

But it's easy for Bea to be queasy up there, and as lookout all Bea comes up with is her lunch.

THE CROW'S NEST SWAYED WITH EVERY GUST,
A GENTLE, ROCKING MOTION.
BEA CLUTCHED THE MAST, AND THEN SHE JUST--
HEAVE-HOED INTO THE OCEAN

.
And right into Cap'n Jack's hat! That's it. This wench is walking the plank!

Blindfolded, Bea is pushed onto the plank and begins the short long walk:

BEA DID AS SHE WAS TOLD.
SHE STOPPED...AND STOPPED...
AND SNIFFED THE AIR.
"I THINK I'M SMELLING... GOLD!"

It seems that the one thing princessy trait that Bea possesses is her nose for treasure, and that makes Princess Bea the #1 crew and the new queen of the deep, in Sudipta Bardhan-Quillen's latest rhyming adventure, Pirate Princess (Harper, 2012). With illustrator Jim McElmurrayon board as co-crew, this one takes to a pirating storytime as a corsair's ship takes to water.